Sapin style

The style sapin (the French "sapin" means fir tree, but better translates to "conifer style") is a variation of Art Nouveau created in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, by the Swiss artist Charles L'Eplattenier (1874–1946), a professor of the school of art and design in that town. The basic principle taught by L'Eplattenier was that art should be inspired by nature, in this case by the conifers, in particular fir trees, that covered the Jura Mountains around the town. L'Eplattenier began teaching the higher course of art and decoration at the regional School of Art in 1905, where his students included Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, the future Le Corbusier. He declared that "nature is the sole inspiration" and urged his students to study the regional plants, flowers and wildlife. In his official report to the school administration, he wrote, "the base of our studies or ornament remains always the fir/coniferous tree. This tree, at its different ages, studied in its different ages, in its totality, or in detail, offers an inexhaustible resource of decoration... The great silver chardon, the gentienes, as well as our Jurassian wildlife, add a considerable richness." The most famous production of the school was a chalet, the Villa Fallet, designed in 1906 by the eighteen-year-old Jeanneret, which included a frieze with a fir tree motif over the front door. The students produced a variety of other decorative objects.¶

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Style sapin”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.¶

Sapin style is artistic movement derivated from Art Nouveau and present in late-19th-century in Switzerland, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition.¹¶

The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation.¹¶